WINDHOEK – Ismael Ameb who was sentenced to 16 years in the Tsumeb egional Court in Tsumeb for rape and assault with intent to do grievous bodily harm failed in his bid when he appealed in the High Court in Windhoek.
Judge Alfred Siboleka and Judge Elton Hoff dismissed the appeal last week. The judges ruled that Ameb “did not point out any of the aforementioned factors which could have compelled this court to interfere with the sentence imposed by the trial court”.
The judges further ruled that regarding the issue of sentence the Ameb in his grounds of appeal referred to only one ground of appeal, namely that the ‘sentence is flatly unreasonable’.
“A court of appeal may interfere with the sentence imposed by the trial court where the trial court misdirected itself on the facts or on the law; where there was an irregularity which was material during the sentencing proceedings; where the trial court failed to take into account material facts or over emphasised the Importance of other facts; or where the sentence imposed is startlingly inappropriate, induces a sense of shock and there is a striking disparity between the sentence imposed by the trial court and that which would have been imposed by the court of appeal,” the judges ruled.
The judges further found that the magistrate did not commit any material misdirection in accepting the testimony of the complainant and rejecting that of the appellant and eventually convicting the accused of the crime of rape.
“The only less than satisfactory part of the evidence of the complainant was that she did not report that she had been raped by the appellant to the doctor who examined her. It appears that the magistrate accepted her reason for failing to do so due to the fact that she was in pain and did not think to do so at that stage. Obviously, had the complainant informed the doctor about the rape the doctor would have done the required examination.”
The magistrate was however satisfied with the fact that the complainant informed the police officer who took down her statement two days after the event that she had been raped by Ameb and had also reported the rape to the second state witness about one week later, the judges ruled.
Ameb was convicted of assault with intent to do grievous bodily harm, the incident occurred on 4 November 2006 at the farm Welgevonde, in the Oshikoto Region and that he assaulted the complainant by beating her with a clenched fist on the head and by burning her with ‘a fire-wood all over the body’.
Ameb in his plea explanation admitted burning the complainant only on her thigh with a piece of firewood but stated that he had been provoked by the complainant and that he had no intention to seriously injure her.
With regard to the charge of rape, he explained during the trial that he had consensual sex with the complainant whom he referred to as his girlfriend or his wife.
By Tunomukwathi Asino